The invention relates to a construction equipment comprising a lower carriage or undercarriage on which an upper carriage or upper frame is mounted. (In the following the terms “undercarriage” and “upper frame”, respectively, are used to designate these units.) In many such construction equipments, the upper frame is mounted in such a way on the undercarriage that it can be rotated in a horizontal plane. The invention especially relates to such a construction equipment in the form of an excavator or crane or another construction vehicle.
When designing such a construction equipment, it is often difficult to position certain components of the construction equipment appropriately such that they are accessible in an easy and comfortable manner for an operator or driver of the construction equipment, because the space is usually very limited. Such components are e.g. a fuel filler pump, a fuel suction hose, certain hydraulic or electric devices, or compartments for tools, accessories, operation valves or spare parts, etc.
Furthermore, it is desirable that such components are protected against a possible damage during the operation of the construction equipment and against damaging environmental influences like e.g. dirt, dust, water, ice, snow, heat, etc.
In view of these problems, it is desirable to provide a construction equipment as mentioned in the opening paragraph, in which components as exemplarily mentioned above are accessible in an easy manner and at the same time are protected against damage and said environmental influences.
According to an aspect of the present invention, in construction equipment comprising an upper frame to be mounted on an undercarriage, wherein at least one flap and/or at least one compartment is mounted by means of an assembly unit at an underside of the upper frame, such that the at least one flap and/or compartment can be moved or operated between an open and a closed position.
Generally, it is to be noted that the compartment or flap can also be provided in the form of a locker or box. However, in the following description, the terms compartment or flap are used for designating all these possible alternatives.
By providing the compartment or flap at an underside of the upper frame, it is easy to access and to open it by a person standing on the ground or on the undercarriage, as the case may be, due to its low position in comparison to the length of the operator or driver of the construction equipment and his/her relative position to the compartment or flap. Furthermore, at the underside of the upper frame, the compartment or flap is widely protected against damage and the above mentioned environmental influences.
Another advantage is that even in an open position, the compartment or flap and its content is widely protected against rain, snow, ice, dirt, dust, etc. due to its position at the underside of the upper frame.
Furthermore, one or more of such compartments or flaps can be provided around the upper frame at its underside so that any free space within the upper frame can be used according to its size by compartments or flaps with accordingly adapted sizes, for storing various components or providing compartments as mentioned above.
Furthermore, such a flap can also be positioned at an appropriate place at the underside of the upper frame in order to easily provide access to a component of the construction equipment when the flap is open, so that e.g. maintenance of certain components can be conducted in a quick and easy way.
It will be appreciated that features of the invention are susceptible to being combined in any combination without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.